The New Jersey Turnpike saw the fewest number of fatal accidents in its 62-year history last year.

There were nine deadly accidents on the Turnpike for the entire year — down from 24 the year before — and no accidents that resulted in multiple deaths.

The numbers are all the more impressive when you consider that nearly 5.5 billion vehicle miles were traveled on the Turnpike in 2013.

“The Turnpike is consistently one of the safest highways in the U.S.,” said Tom Feeney, a spokesman for the New Jersey Turnpike Authority. “The national highway fatality rate is 1.10 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled. That’s more than seven times higher than the rate on the Turnpike (0.15).”

Of the nine deaths, one victim was on a motorcycle and three victims were on foot, he said.

Of the five victims who were in vehicles, only one was wearing a seatbelt, Feeney said.

“Safety is a primary consideration in everything the Turnpike Authority does and it’s gratifying to see the number of deaths on the road drop to an all-time low,” he said. “However, the fact that four of the five people who died in their vehicles might have survived if only they had buckled their seatbelts is proof that we have work left to do.”

One driver was ejected and struck a concrete bridge support before landing beneath the Newark Bay-Hudson County Extension (Interstate 78).

Overall, accidents on the Turnpike were largely the same in 2013 — 6,286 versus 6,213 the year before.

The relatively low number of deadly accidents continues a trend, and occurred last year despite a major construction project between Exit 9 in New Brunswick and Exit 6 in Mansfield Township, Burlington County, to widen the Turnpike to six lanes in each direction and eliminate a bottleneck known as “The Merge.”

Fatalities dropped to less than 1 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled on the Turnpike in 1982, and have stayed below that in the more than three decades since, according to Turnpike statistics.

During that time, mandatory seatbelt laws also have been enacted and air bags have become a standard part of automobiles.

Before 2013, the fewest deadly accidents on the Turnpike were the 13 in 2010.

The deadliest year on the Turnpike was 1973, when 79 people died. The highest fatality rate was 6.11 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled in 1952, the Turnpike’s first full year.

The Turnpike lacks the aesthetics of its sister toll road, the Garden State Parkway, but has many fewer fatalities because of its wide shoulders and utilitarian design. It runs 122 miles from the Delaware Memorial Bridge to the George Washington Bridge.

The Parkway had 21 fatal accidents in 2013, same as the year before. Vehicle miles traveled were up on the Parkway in 2013, going from about 6.1 billion to 6.3 billion, according to statistics kept by Chip Eibel, director of operations for the New Jersey Turnpike Authority.

State Transportation Commissioner Jim Simpson called the overall drop in deadly accidents on the two major toll roads a “good sign,” noting he would continue efforts to reduce fatalities through what he terms the three E’s, “Enforcement, engineering and education.”